Tag: Andy Slaughter

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2015-10-30.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when he plans to answer Question 12150, on HM Courts and Tribunals Service: Procurement, tabled by the hon. Member for Hammersmith on 15 October 2015.

Mr Shailesh Vara

I refer the Honourable member to the answer given to question 12150 on 06 November 2015.

This can be found at: http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2015-10-15/12150/

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2015-11-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent representations his Department has made to the Israeli government on the Children in Military Custody report, funded by his Department, which was published in June 2012.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

Officials from our Embassy in Tel Aviv have held roundtable meetings with Israeli officials to discuss the Children in Military Custody report, most recently on 19 May. Since the publication of the report, there has been some progress on the issue of children held in military detention. This includes piloting of sending summons instead of carrying out night-time arrests, changes to standard operating procedures on methods of restraint, and steps to reduce the amount of time a child can be detained before seeing a judge. There has also been a reduction in the use of solitary confinement and an increase in the use of Arabic to give notifications of arrest. Officials from our Embassy in Tel Aviv continue to push for further progress with Israeli officials. On 27 August, our Ambassador to Tel Aviv lobbied the Israeli Military Advocate General on Children in Detention where the issue of child detention was discussed.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2015-12-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of magistrates has resigned in each month since January 2015.

Mr Shailesh Vara

The requested information is provided in the table below.

Month	Resignations	Proportion of total in post*
Jan	66	0.34
Feb	46	0.24
Mar	95	0.50
Apr	80	0.42
May	95	0.50
Jun	92	0.48
Jul	79	0.41
Aug	69	0.36
Sep	89	0.46
Oct	80	0.42
Nov	64	0.33

* There are approximately 19,000 magistrates in England and Wales.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2015-12-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, for what reasons references to UK objections to the death penalty were omitted from his Department’s policy paper, UN Human Rights Council: United Kingdom 2017-2019.

Mr David Lidington

Our UN pledges reflect our enduring commitment to promoting universal human rights which includes work to abolish the death penalty. The position of this Government is clear: We oppose the death penalty in all circumstances and we continue to call on all states to abolish it.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2015-12-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate his Department has made of the number of people whom the Social Action, Responsibility and Heroism Act 2015 has encouraged and enabled to play a more active role in civil society.

Dominic Raab

The Act only came into force on 13 April 2015. As is normal practice, a formal assessment of its impact may be carried out after three to five years.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-01-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many times the Prison Service Gold Command opened in each month since May 2010; and what the nature was of each incident that caused it to be opened.

Andrew Selous

The safety of staff and prisoners is a priority. Gold Command is opened in order to deal with incidents as quickly and safely as possible. Not all incidents turn out to be serious, but all incidents are regarded as potentially serious at the point of Gold being opened up.

Prisons are dealing with an increasingly violent population, and the effects of novel psychoactive substances. We take a zero tolerance approach to drugs in prisons, and have recently introduced tough new laws which will see those who smuggle packages over prison walls, including drugs, face up to two years in prison. There are already a range of robust measures in place to detect drugs, including the use of sniffer dogs, searches of cells, and mandatory drugs tests.

Table 1: Gold Command Openings by Month and Incident Type May 2010 – December 2015

Month	Total	Hostage	Concerted Indiscipline	Incident at Height	Industrial Action	Escape	Barricade	Fire		Civil Unrest
May-10	2			2
Jun-10	1		1
Jul-10	3	1	2
Aug-10	1		1
Sep-10	2	2
Oct-10	4	2	1	1
Nov-10	8	2	5				1
Dec-10	3	1	2
Jan-11	4		4
Feb-11	4	2		1			1
Mar-11	1	1
Apr-11	4	2	1				1
May-11	2	2
Jun-11	0
Jul-11	0
Aug-11	3	1	1							1
Month	Total	Hostage	Concerted Indiscipline	Incident at Height	Industrial Action	Escape	Barricade	Fire		Civil Unrest
Sep-11	1	1
Oct-11	2	1				1
Nov-11	7	4	1	1	1
Dec-11	2	2
Jan-12	5	5
Feb-12	3	2		1
Mar-12	5	2	1	1			1
Apr-12	2		2
May-12	6	5			1
Jun-12	3	1	1					1
Jul-12	6		4	2
Aug-12	3	2		1
Sep-12	3	1	2
Oct-12	2	2
Nov-12	6	4			2
Dec-12	2	2
Jan-13	2	1		1
Feb-13	1	1
Mar-13	7	4	1	1	1
Apr-13	6	4	1	1
May-13	6	3	1	1			1
Jun-13	13	9	3				1
Jul-13	4	4
Aug-13	4	3	1
Sep-13	12	7	1	4
Oct-13	4	2	1	1
Nov-13	6	3	2						1
Dec-13	6	5		1
Jan-14	10	8	2
Feb-14	4	3	1
Mar-14	5	3	2
Apr-14	6	5	1
May-14	0
Jun-14	8	7	1
Jul-14	12	7	1	1	1		1	1
Aug-14	5	3	2
Sep-14	5	3	1	1
Oct-14	5	4	1
Nov-14	10	6	4
Dec-14	8	4	3	1
Jan-15	5	4		1
Feb-15	2	2
Month	Total	Hostage	Concerted Indiscipline	Incident at Height	Industrial Action	Escape	Barricade	Fire		Civil Unrest
Mar-15	13	9	2	2
Apr-15	5	3	1	1
May-15	6	4		2
Jun-15	9	5	2				1		1
Jul-15	14	7	2	5
Aug-15	3	1	2
Sep-15	9	6	2	1
Oct-15	6	3	2	1
Nov-15	5	2	3
Dec-15	5	2	1	2

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-01-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many settlements his Department estimates have been affected by errors on his Department’s Form E divorce form.

Mr Shailesh Vara

An investigation into this issue is taking place. Officials are taking steps to identify rapidly cases where the regrettable error caused by the embedded calculator at table 2.20 may have had an impact, and we will be writing to anyone affected as soon as possible. Anyone concerned about their own court proceedings should contact formE@hmcts.gsi.gov.uk. The form now online no longer contains the error.

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-01-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he made of the potential effect on court fee income of the announcement in the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015 on changes to personal injury laws and procedure before making that announcement; and if he will make a statement.

Dominic Raab

The Government will consult on the detail of the new reforms in due course. The consultation will be accompanied by an impact assessment.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-01-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the humanitarian effect of the Israeli government’s policy on demolition orders.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

We believe these demolitions cause unnecessary suffering to ordinary Palestinians; are harmful to the peace process; and are, in all but the most exceptional of cases, contrary to international humanitarian law. The Fourth Geneva Convention is clear that the destruction of any real or personal property in Occupied Territory is not justified unless it is rendered absolutely necessary by military operations. This is why Foreign and Commonwealth Office Ministers and officials regularly raise the matter with the Israeli Government, emphasising our concerns.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-01-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many Ministers in his Department have visited G4S Medway in the last five years.

Andrew Selous

In the last five years, available records show that three Ministers have visited Medway Secure Training Centre.